The crowd of about 20,000 people banged pots, pans and empty oil cans
and shouted slogans calling for Bosje, as Wijdenbosch is called, to
step down.

Police, who fired warning shots and tear gas during similar protests
over the past week, did not intervene and no incidents were reported.

The former Dutch colony on the northern shoulder of South America has
been rocked for a week by anti-government protests over steep price
rises and a plunging local currency.

The protests have brought the sparsely populated country virtually to
a standstill with most shops, gasoline stations and schools closed and
many civil servants on strike.

Wijdenbosch, who took office in September 1996 for five years, has
resisted calls for his resignation and political and diplomatic
sources said he might declare a state of emergency.

If the president wants to declare the state of emergency ... he has
to explain why it is necessary, former president Ronald Venetiaan
said during Thursday's march.

A state of emergency would allow the president to rule by decree with
a suspension of most civil liberties.

Foreign Minister Errol Snijders hinted at the prospect when, according
to diplomatic sources, he told members of the diplomatic corps
Wednesday that the government would take any constitutional
measures necessary to maintain public order.

Suriname, a multiethnic country of 400,000, has seen its economy hit
by poor prices for key exports like bauxite, shrimps, bananas and
gold.

While Wijdenbosch blames these external factors and heavy foreign
currency demand by drug traffickers for the current crisis, local
economists argue the economy has been mismanaged.